Tyson Foods' corporate laboratories are located in Springdale, Arkansas, and Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Both hold USDA accreditation for food chemistry and pesticide residue analysis, as well as USDA recognition for microbiological analysis. The use of standardized Bacteriological Analytical Chemist's (BAM/AOAC) test methods enables the Tyson Foods laboratories to maintain the high quality standards required for this certification.

Tyson Foods also maintains branch laboratories located in our processing plants, rendering plants, and ships at sea.

Tyson Foods maintains numerous on-site branch laboratories in our processing plants, rendering plants, and ships at sea. All laboratory tests are thoroughly detailed in the Tyson Laboratory Manual. Plus, a week-long microbiology and chemistry course is conducted monthly for management personnel and laboratory technicians based in processing facilities. Regularly scheduled audits of Tyson facilities by a corporate field microbiologist underline Tyson Foods' continuing commitment of quality to our customers by insuring accuracy and uniformity of test results.

To be absolutely certain that Tyson Foods' poultry flocks are completely immunized from disease, samples are regularly taken from potential suppliers of serum and tested in our labs using approved virus and serum tests before the flocks are vaccinated.

Samples taken from potential serum suppliers are titrated in cell culture, then they are evaluated using monoclonal antibody and fluorescence microscopy. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technology, hemagglutination inhibition, and serum plate agglutination tests are employed to test several thousand serum samples from Tyson poultry farms each week. These exacting tests confirm that our chickens are adequately protected against disease by the vaccinations they receive. Tests, just as exacting as these, are continually being performed in the fields of chemistry, microbiology, and environment technologies.

To prevent any pesticide residue contamination to Tyson poultry products, residue testing is conducted on samples from every poultry farm before the chickens are transported from the farm to the processing facility.

In Tyson Foods' Nutritional Departments, chemists and laboratory specialists analyze feed, feed ingredients, and food products for nutritional quality.

Tyson's Chemistry Departments currently hold USDA accreditations in food chemistry and pesticide residue analysis. Tyson Foods facilities routinely send samples of poultry fat, feed ingredients, finished feed, litter, and soil to the labs to be analyzed for pesticide residues. Tyson chemists follow the same exacting standards we use for virus and serum technology, microbiology, and protection of our environment.

To analyze samples of poultry fat, feed ingredients, finished feed, litter, and soil, Tyson Foods technicians use state-of-the-art equipment such as inductively-coupled plasma emission and atomic absorption spectroscopy, gas and liquid chromatography, and combustion nitrogen analyzers, as well as various chemistry methods.

Tyson Foods' laboratories conduct microbiology testing and research to isolate, enumerate, and identify microorganisms to assure safe, wholesome food products for our customers. This quality control is especially important in the Tyson hatcheries which supply the chicks for our flocks.Tyson microbiologists use state-of-the-art equipment and intensive environmental monitoring technology in our hatcheries to insure chick quality. Gene probes, ELISA antigen-capture techniques, as well as conventional microbiological methods are used to insure the quality of the finished product.

Protecting our fragile environment is high on the list of priorities at Tyson Foods laboratories. Our specialists continually conduct environmental tests to monitor wastewater in facilities throughout the Tyson Foods organization to insure a high standard of water quality being released into the environment.

Tyson Foods' continuing commitment to a healthy environment dictates that our environmental laboratories use standard EPA methodologies for the examination of potable water and wastewater for various test parameters. Tyson Foods' laboratory technicians are licensed analysts who are continuously training in order to maintain their certifications.